Review: A Short History of the Girl Next Door by Jared Reck

A Short History of the Girl Next Door by Jared Reck
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Release Date: September 26, 2017
Book Format: ARC
# of Pages: 272
Synopsis: The unrequited love of the girl next door is the centerpiece of this fiercely funny, yet heart-breaking debut novel.

Fifteen-year-old Matt Wainwright is in turmoil. He can’t tell his lifelong best friend, Tabby, how he really feels about her; his promising basketball skills are being overshadowed by his attitude on the court, and the only place he feels normal is in English class, where he can express his inner thoughts in quirky poems and essays. Matt is desperately hoping that Tabby will reciprocate his feelings; but then Tabby starts dating Liam Branson, senior basketball star and all-around great guy. Losing Tabby to Branson is bad enough; but, as Matt soon discovers, he’s close to losing everything that matters most to him.

Humorous and heart-wrenching, A Short History of the Girl Next Door is perfect for readers who fell in love with All the Bright Places' Finch or Stargirl’s Leo.

Meet Jared, (Taken from Goodreads)
Jared Reck lives in Hanover, Pennsylvania, with his wife and two daughters. He teaches 8th grade Language Arts, where he has been reading awesome books and writing alongside his students for the past twelve years. A Short History of the Girl Next Door is his first novel.
Learn more about Jared at jaredreckbooks.com and follow him on Twitter @reckj.

My Review:

I was sent this book by the publisher and this is my honest review.

A Short History of the Girl Next Door by Jared Reck tells the story of a classic love story with a twist that I wasn’t expecting. Matt & Tabby grew up together, and had been inseparable since the day Tabby’s mother left. Her dad needed the help taking care of a newborn baby and the Wainwrights enjoyed having little Tabby around all the time. Everything changes when Matt realizes that he’s in love with his best friend.

In the beginning, I had the feeling that the story was going to be a typical love story. Neighbors grew up together, the boy falls in love with the girl, they have some falling out but then they make up and fall in love. BUT that is not what this book was like at all. Without any spoilers it had most of the typical love story aspects but in the middle nearing the end the book took a turn that I didn’t see coming.

I don’t normally read mushy love stories so I found myself really loving the initial relationship between Matt and Tabby. Even though it was typical I just loved them so much. I loved how close Tabby was with Matt’s family especially his little brother and grandparents. I also loved that even though she was becoming a little more popular by dating the popular senior at school she still loved Matt as a friend and didn’t treat him any differently.

Another favorite part of the story was the school aspects of the story. All of the teachers were so involved in the lives of all of their students especially Matt and Tabby and they stood by them when tragedy struck. I love how everybody in this book was so good to one another everybody was so supportive and it just felt like such a great community to be in.

  

Review: Click'd by Tamara Ireland Stone

Click'd by Tamara Ireland Stone 
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Release Date: September 7, 2017
Book Format: ARC
# of Pages: 208
Synopsis: Allie Navarro can't wait to show her best friends the app she built at CodeGirls summer camp. CLICK'D pairs users based on common interests and sends them on a fun (and occasionally rule-breaking) scavenger hunt to find each other. And it's a hit. By the second day of school, everyone is talking about CLICK'D.

Watching her app go viral is amazing. Leaderboards are filling up! Everyone's making new friends. And with all the data Allie is collecting, she has an even better shot at beating her archenemy, Nathan, at the upcoming youth coding competition. But when Allie discovers a glitch that threatens to expose everyone's secrets, she has to figure out how to make things right, even if that means sharing the computer lab with Nathan. Can Allie fix her app, stop it from doing any more damage, and win back the friends it hurt-all before she steps on stage to present CLICK'D to the judges?

New York Times best-selling author Tamara Ireland Stone combines friendship, coding, and lots of popcorn in her fun and empowering middle-grade debut.


Meet Tamara: (Taken from Goodreads)
TAMARA IRELAND STONE is the author of Time and Time Again, a collection of her two novels Time Between Us and Time After Time, and the New York Times best seller Every Last Word.

A Silicon Valley native, she has worked in the technology industry all her life, first testing Atari game boards in her parents’ garage, and later, co-founding a woman-owned marketing strategy firm, where she worked with small startups as well as some of the world’s largest software companies. She enjoys skiing, music, movies, and spending time with her husband and two children. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Listen to playlists and learn more about her books at www.tamarairelandstone.com.

My Review: 

I received this book for review from the publisher and this is my honest review.

Click’d by Tamera Island Stone follows 12 year old Allie who has just finished coding camp and which helped her to create an app to help anyone looking to make friends easily. Because of her brilliant app her teacher nominates her to compete in a competition for young coders who also created games or apps. In the book Allie beta tests her app using her middle school as testers to help her chances in the competition.

It was really interesting to me to read this being that I have read bits and pieces of her other more mature works. I’m not sure how I feel about Stones middle grade title, the writing is so different which is to be expected but I felt as if the writing was more simplified than it really needed to be, but it could just be because I am 21 reading a book for younger kids. Another aspect I had trouble with was the ages of some of these characters. The writing was really young but I don’t think the characters fit with the writing. There were some scenes in which the characters seemed to act their ages but there were also times where Allie for example seemed a lot older than 12 she was always seemingly out on her own, and her friends were way to boy crazy and mature than 12 year olds seem in my experience.

I really love this story Allie and her coding experience could be something so inspirational for younger kids who will be reading this. While reading this I had the urge to play games on my phone like the girls who were having so much fun and wanted to make things just like Allie was doing. This book could do wonders for kids giving them the courage they need to be creative and create just like Allie and Nathan are doing in this book.

On another note, even though I kind of had issues with the ages of the characters I did enjoy the relationship they had together. Allie was such a sweet girl and tried to be good to her friends and others despite the issues she was dealing with trying to launch her new game. Not only is this great for inspiring kids but it also great to teach kids how easy it is to make friends and that they never have to be alone. Stone did a great job keeping it interesting and inspiring for all ages I definitely will check out anything of hers in the future.

I just finished a teen book that has to do with coding and creating games and I think that book, Nexis by A.L. Davroe and this go together so well keep an eye out for a video on my youtube channel about both of these books to introduce users to the joy of coding as well as both of these novels.